While searching for Gerald in the forest, the girls made use of what they learned, and with the help of Rockslide, they covered a lot of ground quickly.
Qiona stayed behind at the camp in the safety of the Phoenix Knights so they could focus 100% on the task at hand.
A few extra warriors also joined the search party since they were also curious about what exactly was going on.
Among them was also an average-looking man. He was a little bit on the shorter side, with average looks, and an average build, but also he didn't interact with others much.
He was quite forgettable, in a sense, nothing special about him. He simply was.
The only unusual thing about him was that he almost always carried around a book. The only exceptions were while fighting and eating. He would store it away at that time.
Soon they heard a shout calling for all to gather.
The warriors in the search party converged on the spot where the call came from and stared at the thing in front of them with opened mouths. Before them stood a massive stone structure, though it looked like it was once a living thing.
The best description for it would be the thorn forest from Sleeping Beauty. The only difference was that the thorny vines here were made out of stone instead of cursed wood.
Xilia came to the thorns and carefully checked the sharp points. "Yup, that's Gerald's work alright!"
"Woah, that's amazing! But why would he make it so big? And why here?" Tabbris asked with his head turned upward.
The thorns formed a giant dome-like structure and it was impossible to see through it. It was just too dense.
"Didn't you say he already left the caves?" Sera said as she shielded her eyes from the evening sun shining directly at them. "Did something happen?"
"Oh, no! He must be injured!" Elly exclaimed. "After he took care of those monsters, he didn't look good… What if he's injured? We need to help him!"
Agreeing with her, the rest quickly established a plan and started carefully dismantling the thorns.
The stones were extremely sharp and had to be carefully broken off and tossed away to avoid any unnecessary injuries.
As they slowly advanced deeper, Tabbris quietly whistled at the sheer magnitude of the thing. If such a thing was created in midst of battle, it would surely create chaos unlike any other.
In midst of battle, in a fight where each second was important, a magic spell like this would be one of the most useful tools for disrupting the enemy. He simply couldn't stop thinking of all the uses it could bring.
Losing a fight? Bam! Thorn wall! Instant safety.
Winning a fight and the enemy is escaping? Bam! Thorn wall!
Now, where are they going to go? Jump on the thorns? Good luck with that!
"There he is!"
The shout brought him back to reality. Indeed, they found Gerald laying on the ground in the middle of layers and layers of thorns. Only a small area around him was void of them while he remained motionless with his face on the floor.
Breaking past the last few spikes, they could finally come closer. It was not a good sight.
There was blood all over the place, the ground, his clothes, and especially his body and face. He was covered in it from head to toe, and his skin was red, almost like he was burning.
"Ouch! He's really burning!" exclaimed Xilia who was the first one to crouch down beside him.
She tried to move him, but when she touched his shoulder, she almost burnt herself. The blood and the ground around Gerald were already completely dried up even though it had barely been a few hours since the fight ended.
It was already getting late, and night would come in a few hours, they had to be back at camp at that time.
"That's Mana Overload!" Tabbris cried out and quickly kneeled beside him. "We need to cool him down, quickly! Every minute he stays like this it's going to affect his magic capabilities!"
He quickly took a waterskin from his belt and poured it all on Gerald. Then, he placed his hands on it and released his Ice magic to freeze the water.
Gerald remained like this, in a half-frozen state for a little bit, but then the ice started to melt and the water soon evaporated.
"I don't have any water left, and I'm afraid I'll hurt him if I try to freeze him directly…" Tabbris said with a wry smile and turned to Gerald's teammates for help.
"Let me try," Sera pushed him aside and mixed both Wind and Ice magic to create Arctic Wind. It was quite a simple spell she and Xilia came up with after training together for weeks.
They used Gerald's advice and tried experimenting with magic as much as possible instead of relying on rigid already-established magic spells.
She held it for a while and moved it across Gerald's body slowly. It appeared to be working quite well, his temperature dropped and his skin became a shade brighter.
Unfortunately, the magic was quite taxing on the mind and Sera had to stop a few minutes later due to exhaustion.
Gerald started heating up again.
"Move aside, I'll do it!" Xilia said and pushed Sera away.
She also used Arctic Wind and continuously used it for twice as long as her friend, but eventually, she had to give up as well.
"What if I try to heal him?" Elly asked meekly. "I know my healing magic is not that good, but I could-"
"No!" Tabbris immediately denied it. "His body must not come in contact with any directed Mana until he naturally recovers. If you try to heal him with magic it will just make the situation worse."
"Oh…" Elly sounded disappointed. She had only one way to help, and even this one would do more damage than good.
"Then what do we do? We don't have any more mages here…."
"Let's get him back to camp quickly! We can slowly cool him down with water there," Tabbris suggested.
Of course, nobody had any complaints, and they agreed on a course of action. The warriors quickly made a primitive stretcher and carried Gerald back to base.